tonight on "world news," homes on the brink. thousands of people desperate to hang onto their houses line up at the 11th hour. will they get foreclosure help in time? ease coast soaked. a massive storm, drenching rain, dangerous wind. travel is a mess. exit the rahminator. ram emanuel heading home to chicago. a smile and a good-bye. a movie star with a rough start who turned it all into a hollywood ending. and bill weir goes home. with t where the guys making the hogs have an idea to keep jobs in

america. good evening. they call it save the dream, but what a nightmare for tens of thousands of people from across the country, converging on los angeles. they had been standing in line since the middle of last night, hoping to avoid foreclosure on their homes. for perspective, since the recession started in 2007, 2.3 million homes have been foreclosed. that spike is coming down, but still just last month, another 340,000 homes got foreclosure notices. david wright is in l.a., where people are hoping a last-ditch offer is the lifeline they need. >> reporter: the line started forming at noon yesterday. hundreds camped out overnight, like teenagers looking for concert tickets. but all of these people are at risk of losing their homes. what time did you come out? >> i got here at 6:10 a.m.

>> reporter: 610 a.m.? shirley mccoy was the 1,117th person in line. a widow, with cancer, on fixed income. she bought her home with more than 50% down. i do what i'm supposed to and i'm still getting mistreated. >> reporter: cole cameron came here from san jose, a six-hour drive. he's an accountant. so you're a financial planner, and you're here? >> yeah. >> reporter: he bought at the top of the market, and now owes 50% than his home is worth. >> we're probably 250 under water. san jose, silicon valley. >> reporter: as of this month, foreclosures are down, nationwide, about 5% from last year. but still at near record levels. according to new figures released today, one out of four homes sold during the last quarter were "foreclosure sales" bought at a discount from the bank. and california is one of the hardest hit states. 1 out of 10 homes that foreclosed since the first of the year, nationwide, are in the los angeles area alone.

these homeowners work out what they can afford to pay, with the help of non-profit advisers. then they head across the room and meet directly with their banks. this is the 22nd event they've organized in the past two years. the second time here in l.a. >> it's just as big as a year ago. maybe even bigger. >> reporter: i thought the recession was over? >> only the people in washington think that. but people on the ground, we know that the recession is still here, just as bad, and some ways getting worse. >> reporter: it's important to underscore, in is a non-profit organization, not the federal government at work here, and the people here are critical of the obama administration's efforts on the foreclosure front. in fact, out of every one person that the federal program kept out of foreclosure last year, another ten families lost their homes. and the people here say, just look around you, we've got a lot of work to do. >> such a wrenching sign of the times behind you there, david, thank you for the reporting tonight. and, on the weather.

it is a washingtonout up and down the east coast tonight. a wet, wild storm dumping up to a foot of rain. the leftovers from tropical storm nicole. and not only are roads flooding, there are powerful winds with tornado watches from north carolina to new jersey, and our weather editor sam champion is in virginia, in a part of the road that looks like it's becoming a lake. >> reporter: three people died in north carolina when their car hydroplane into a ditch. this is highway 17 in eastern north carolina. there's three inches of water on it, but more than two feet of water beside it. in wilmington, north carolina, streets were overwhelmed by 22 1/2 inches of rain. why so much rain? three systems combining to bring extreme downpours from north carolina to maine, as tropical storm nicole broke apart wednesday night, a second storm formed, along an east coast cold front. so much rain, it stalled east coast travel, unless you were searching down main street.

and we are in norfolk, right now, looking at the traffic not able to drive around the flooding. there is more rain, diane. look at the map. there's a second batch of moisture, this is what was left of the center of nicole, that is going to travel just about the same path as the rain did today. that means two to four additional inches of rain, and that's from maryland up into maine. diane? >> that's right. up to your ankles and climbing. thank you, sam champion. and president obama will make the official announcement tomorrow. his friend, the tough-talking chief of staff rahm emanuel is leaving. he is known for his lightning brain and hair-trigger temper and ensured the white house would never be boring. now, back to chicago to make waves there, and jake tapper broke the story on monday, and has more tonight. reporter: rahm emanuel was a chief of staff whose provocative and hard-charging reputation, and foul mouth, were famous enough to be spoofed on

"saturday night live." >> you come after me on facebook? what are you, 14? here's a status update, grow the [ bleep ] up! >> reporter: and by the president, the night before mother's day. >> this is a tough holiday for rahm emanuel because he's not used to saying the word "day" after "mother." >> reporter: two years ago, the president pressured emanuel to become his chief of staff, thinking emanuel's experience as a member of congress and former political director for the clinton white house would be indispensible for the president's ambitions agenda. a job he said he would do for at least two years. >> reporter: are you here until the end of 2010 for sure? >> yes. >> reporter: beyond? >> mind if i talk to my wife first about it? >> reporter: but he made no secret of his desire to head to the city with big shoulders. >> one day, i would like to run for mayor of the city of chicago. that's always been an aspiration of mine even when i was in the

house of representatives. >> reporter: so from almost the very moment chicago mayor richard daley announced he would not seek re-election, emanuel and the president began talking about his departure. white house officials praised emanuel today for successfully strategizing for and pushing through major legislation, the stimulus, health care and new wall street regulations. >> i think the president has a number of legislative victories that i think will play well in chicago even if they don't play well in all the areas of the united states. >> reporter: emanuel had his critics as well, those who said he was too focused on politics. liberals blamed him for conceding too much to republicans in negotiations and avoiding fighting for principles on issues ranging from civil liberties to immigration reform. the president will name longtime obama adviser pete rouse as chief of staff on an interim basis tomorrow. diane? >> thanks, jake. good to see you at the white house tonight. and, a tension time for the u.s. military today, as a conflict heated up between the

u.s. and pakistan. pakistan shut down the most important supply route for the forces fighting in afghanistan, retaliating for a helicopter strike gone wrong. martha raddatz has been following the developments all day. martha, how did it get to this point? >> reporter: this began early this morning when a u.s. apache helicopter briefly crossed into pakistan where it was fired upon. assuming they were taking upmy fire, they fired back. but what the helicopter's apparently hit was an outpostmaned by pakistani soldiers and three of them were killed. >> could this get worse for american troops? what could happen? >> reporter: well, it could because they closed down this path. we were there along the pass last year. they bring tons of food and military supplies to u.s. troops every day. the u.s. is now in urgent talks with the pakistanis to get it opened back up. the pakistanis have made all kinds of threats but the u.s. officials seem confident they can lower the temperatures in

the coming dales. at least they hope so. >> martha raddatz, thank you. and we are learning troubling now details of a very close call at new york's kennedy airport earlier this month. one plane departing, one plane arriving and now one experienced air traffic controller speaking out about how bad it really was. jim hoffer in new york has the story. >> reporter: it's a night a veteran air traffic controller would like to forget. he had just cleared an aerogal 767 from ecuador to land on a runway at new york's jfk airport. >> aerogal 700, heavy kennedy tower, winds calm, clear to land runway 13 left. >> wind call, 1-3 left clear to land. aerogal 700. >> it's a very, very routine operation. >> reporter: but that's when the aerogal pilot, for reasons still unknown, turned his 767 aircraft filled with passengers toward the wrong runway. instead of 13 left, he turns sharply to runway 13 right, where a jetblue regional aircraft has started his takeoff. another pilot waiting to depart alerts the tower. >> tower from delta 122.

looks like that guy is trying to land on 1-3 right. >> reporter: with seconds to spare, controller abraham radios the aerogal pilot to abort his landing. >> aerogal, 700 heavy, go around fly runway heading -- because you are lining up for the wrong runway. you need to start an immediate right turn. >> reporter: still not sure the pilot understood, the controller repeats the emergency order to turn. >> you need to start an immediate right turn. you need to turn right there's somebody rolling underneath you. >> roger, heading -- >> once he's turned, which seems like a lifetime, but probably only 10 to 15 seconds later, he turns to the right and jetblue takes off next to him. >> reporter: jfk has deployed new ground radar that's supposed to alert air traffic controllers to close calls on the runway, but on the night of this incident, the equipment was not working. jim hoffer, abc news, new york. and our thanks to wabc. and still ahead on "world news," you responded with a wave of emotion. we told you about a boy who loved his violin. tonight, more on the secret

roommate camera, and your response to his suicide. and, the big star of the big screen leaves the stage. and, if you want to keep jobs here in the u.s., see what bill weir found in his hometown. sure sounds good for all of us on medicare. starting next year, we'll get free check-ups, cancer screenings, lower prescription costs. and better ways to protect us and medicare from fraud, so it will stay strong for our kids and grandkids. now, that's music to my ears. ♪ [ commearlier, she hady vonn! an all-over achy cold... now, that's music to my ears. what's her advantage? it's speedy alka-seltzer! [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus rushes relief for all-over achy colds. the official cold medicine of the u.s. ski team. alka-seltzer plus.

[ but aleve can last 12 hours. tylenol 8 hour lasts 8 hours. and aleve was proven to work better on pain than tylenol 8 hour. so why am i still thinking about this? how are you? good, how are you? [ male announcer ] aleve. proven better on pain. you had a powerful response to this story last night. authorities have now identified the body of tyler clem men ty, the young man who leapt from a bridge after his college

roommate secretly broadcast his gay sexual encounter live over the internet. tonight, we have more on the roommate and the other student arrested as authorities consider stiffening the charges against them. and weapon also have what the boy wrote before he died. linsey davis reports. >> reporter: they appear to be some of the last web postings by 18-year-old tyler clementi. on september 2 1s, a user name reportedly linked to clementi on the past blogged on a gay website about a roommate spying on him. "don't want to report him and then end up with nothing happening." the last post under this user name says he told his residential adviser. police say hours later, clementi jumped off the george washington bridge. it's now clear for his own internet trail that clementi's roommate knew he was gay back in august. but his friend and neighbor says it wasn't a hate crime, that ravi was a regular guy, excited

about college and was not homofoe big. >> very, very open-minded, and he, i feel like if it had been a girl in the room, it wouldn't have been any different. >> reporter: still, thousands are sounding off on a facebook group calling for the college freshmen behind the incident to face manslaughter charges. ravi and his friend molly wei are charged with criminal invasion of privacy. today, the group campus pride told us their own new study found that at the college level, 1/3 of gay students have seriously considered leaving their institution due to the challenging climate. what do your findings find about the bias on college campuses? it is alarming to think in 2010, we still don't have poll sips that are inclusive. >> reporter: abc.com received hundreds of posts about this issue. "this story hit me in the gut." linsey davis, abc news, new

york. >> and so many of you logged on to learn about dan savage's project, it gets better.com. men and women bullied because of their sexual orientation, sending their messages of hope to others. >> you might feel like you're all alone, but you're not. >> things improve. bollying stops. haters grow up to become nobodies. your life will eventually be amazing. >> there is a big, beautiful world out there, waiting for you. >> no matter how bad it seems, remember -- it gets better. >> it gets so much better. it gets amazing. >> tell your friends. it gets better. and, coming up, we say good-bye to a screen legend. we've always been alike. [ lindy ] we even both have osteoporosis. but we're active. especially when we vacation, so when i heard about reclast, the only once-a-year iv osteoporosis treatment, i called joni. my doctor said reclast helps restrengthen our bones

to help make them resistant to fracture for twelve whole months. [ lindy ] and reclast is approved to help protect from fracture in many places: hip, spine, even other bones. [ male announcer ] you should not take reclast if you're on zometa, have low blood calcium, kidney problems. or you're pregnant, plan to become pregnant or nursing. take calcium and vitamin d daily. tell your doctor if you develop severe muscle, bone or joint pain, of if you have dental problems, as rarely jaw problems have been reported. the most common side effects include flu like symptoms, fever, muscle or joint pain and headache. nothing strengthens you like an old friendship. but when it comes to our bones, we both look to reclast. you've gotta ask your doctor once-a-year reclast. year-long protection for on-the-go women.

i love my grandma. i love you grandma. grandma just makes me happy. ♪ to know, know, know you grandma is the bestest. the total package. grandpa's cooooooooool. way cool. ♪ grandpa spoils me rotten. ♪ to know, know, know you ♪ is to love... some people call us frick and frack. we do finger painting. this is how grandpa and i roll. ♪ and i do [ pins fall ] grandma's my best friend. my best friend ever. my best friend ever. ♪ [ laughing ] [ boy laughs ] ♪ to know, know, know you

after this we're gonna get ice cream. can we go get some ice cream? yeah. ♪ and i do ♪ and i do ♪ and i do actor tony curtis has died. he liked to say he was educated in the school of hard knocks. that hard scrabble life and a clever name change catapulted him to hollywood. when asked about bliss, he said "top billing." john berman said that was a dream he realized. >> reporter: he had it all. that movie star-swagger. >> you're a very beautiful girl, dr. brown. >> reporter: those show-stopping eyes. charming enough to sell the idea that ancient romans could have new york accents. >> i can do feats of magic. born bernard schwartz in the bronx. he served in the navy during

world war ii, enroechling in acting school and changing his name to tony curtis. >> the best of everything is good enough for me. >> reporter: his big break, "the sweet smell of success." and he got a big whiff. a strange of smash hits. an oscar nomination for "the defiant ones." and perhaps his most famous role, in "some like it hot" with jack lemmon and marilyn monroe, proving he would do anything to get the girl. even dressing up like one. >> would you quit stalling? we're going to miss the chain. >> reporter: battling an addiction for decades. six wives and six children. this newborn, actress jamie little curtis. 140 movies in all. "i don't want to become an elder statesman," he once said. "i want to end up with the girl all the time." and he always did. john berman, abc news, new york. and coming up, if you hate seeing american jobs go overseas, travel with bill weir.

to his hometown. n 45 and older just don't feel .like they used to. are you one of them? remember when you had more energy for 18 holes with your buddies? [ glass shatters ] more passion for the one you love? more fun with your family and friends? it could be a treatable condition called low testosterone, or low t. c'mon, stop living in the shadows. you've got a life to live. [ male announcer ] so don't blame it on aging. talk to your doctor r and go to isitlowt.com to find out more. words alone aren't enough. our job is to listen and find ways to help workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. we'll keep restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right.

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al all this week, some of us have been going home, taking you to our hometowns to put the spotlight on some solutions in the job crisis. first, we went to syracuse, rewriting history by retraining workers. then, to louisville, where citizens and churches have banded together. . and then, out west to the city of oakland, an unlikely owe way sis of green jobs. well, tonight, we travel to bill weir's hometown, milwaukee, where they are fighting to keep jobs in the usa. >> reporter: it seems only proper to come home on rented

milwaukee steel. see, when i was a kid with questionable style, harley-davidson hummed. the breweries flowed. and "happy days" was in primetime. but then fonzi jumped the shark and our hometown seemed to follow. milwaukee was once bigger than atlanta or dallas or boston. but hundreds of thousands followed the jobs out of town, even harley threatened to leave last month until $30 an hour union workers agreed to a seven-year wage freeze. i head into the old neighborhood, filled with anxious dread. yeah, this is it. my folks split up when i was pretty young. and since my dad had been in the army, mom qualified for v.a. housing, so, some of my earliest childhood memories were formed right here in this housing project called berryland. to my amazement, it seems wonderfully preserved. this goes down to the basement.

and, you know, down there was my rocking horse trigger. put some miles on trigger. another single mom, joan, has taken loving care of our old home and i meet another product of these sheriffs, the milwaukee county sheriff. between flashes of nostalgia. >> it looks so small. >> reporter: he shares the grim reality. >> we're part of that rust belt. the manufacturing basis left. the new economy is the computer. we're still chasing smokestacks. >> reporter: i roll to my elementary school, smiling at the memory of goofy faces on picture day. but it is now a depressing symbol of boarded up decay. back in '77, we had no idea that a five-week teacher strike would begin a spiral to the bottom. as the new documentary "waiting for superman" shows, there were years of classroom anarchy, and 80% of schools here can't afford school lunch. but a ride to bradley technical high school proves there are

star teachers fighting the good fight. >> keeping things together to credit our own way. >> reporter: you're building robots? and thanks to an innovative partnership with industry, 4400 kids get cutting edge training. >> it really isn't any need to leave a beautiful place like milwaukee to have a great career. >> reporter: a ride downtown provens it is beautiful. a modern skyline and museums, hip neighborhoods, more ves pas than hogs. all of it has a potential to hold promising young engineers like cecilia cruise. what is your dream? >> i want to invent something. >> reporter: back at my old projects, a sign that it lives on. joan left her manufacturing job by choice, took advantage of the wisconsin business initiative and started a company called cakes to take. martha stewart of berryland. >> you got it. >> reporter: with the right

leadership in this town, happy days could be here again. >> i'm so happy that you came. >> reporter: bill weir, abc news, mihm walk key. >> and keep writing us absolutions in your hometown. we're going to report on them right here. receive you tomorrow night.